Individual Entry

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 7, Episode 3: Same Time, Same Place

Written by Jane Espenson; Directed by James A. Contner

As I’m watching these early Season 7 episodes, I’m finding it amazing just how much better they are than the second half of Season 6, or indeed the second half of Season 7. They’re not perfect, and there’s a distinct lack of proper narrative follow-through, but at least they’re acknowledging certain issues, such as Willow’s previous homidical tendencies, even if they’re doing their best to brush them off.

This episode is good in most respects: it has a cool monster (Gnarl is one creepy mofo), decent character moments and even an effective metaphor (Willow can’t see the gang, and they can’t see her, because of their failure to communicate). There are also some very nice comedy moments, my favourite being posable Dawn (she gets paralysed by Gnarl). That said, some of the problems that will affect the rest of the season are already becoming apparent. Chiefly, we learn that Anya has had her right to teleport revoked - presumably because the writers realised it would make things a little too easy if she could travel anywhere she wanted in the blink of an eye. The same is true later in the season with Willow’s magic ability, which varies on an episode by episode basis as they struggle to rationalise why someone with enough power to literally destroy the whole world isn’t getting out the big guns for the showdown against the First and his minions.